became
successively Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of War for the
United States. Robert Charles Dallas, brother of the editor, author of
the "History of the Maroons" and a score of other works, is best known
as the friend and counsellor of Lord Byron. His last work was his
"Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from 1808 to 1814." It was at
his request that Byron published "Childe Harold," and to him Byron gave
the profits arising from that and four other of his poems. Dallas was
related to Lord Byron through the marriage of his sister with the poet's
uncle. George Mifflin Dallas, son of the editor of the _Columbian_,
became Vice-President of the United States under President Polk. His
commencement oration at Princeton, in 1809, on the "Moral Influence of
Memory," is printed in the _Port Folio_ of that year (Vol. II, p.
396[7]). Two members of the family, Rev. A. R. C. Dallas, son of Robert
Charles, and his cousin, Rev. Charles Dallas, served at Waterloo, and
were afterward prominent in philanthropic work.

[7] John Quincy Adams' commencement oration "On the Importance and
Necessity of Public Faith to the Well-being of a Government," was
inserted in the _Columbian Magazine_ (1787) by Jeremy Belknap.

A. J. Dallas reported for the _Herald_ and for the _Columbian_ the
debates of the State Convention until the Federalists, annoyed by the
publications, withdrew their subscriptions from the _Columbian_, which
led Benjamin Rush to write to Noah Webster (February 13, 1788): "From
the impudent conduct of Mr. Dallas in misrepresenting the proceedings
and speeches in the Pennsylvania Convention, as well as from his
deficiency of matter, the _Columbian Magazine_, of which he is editor,
is in the decline."

Nevertheless the _Columbian_ continued to prosper. The circulation at
times made necessary a second edition, which was reset at considerable
expense, and often contained additional articles.

The final number appeared in December, 1792. The principal motive for
the suspension, the editors declared, "is to be found in the present law
respecting the establishment of the post-office, which totally prohibits
the circulation of monthly publications through that channel on any
other terms than that of paying the highest postage on private letters
or packages." A futile attempt was made to continue the magazine in
January, 1793, under the title, "_The Columbian Museum, or Universal
Asylum_: John Parker, Phila." The only